CSOs calls for inclusion of climate education into school curriculum in Nigeria

Coalition of Civil Societies working in the Environment Sector in Nigeria have called on the Federal government to include Climate Education into the national school curriculum.

According to the group, Climate Education will promote climate literacy which will provide people with tools to engage meaningfully with stakeholders and solve climate change issues.

Addressing Journalists on Wednesday in Abuja, Executive Director, Dean Initiative and Country Director World Largest Lesson, Mr Semiye Michael noted that half of the country’s population in Nigeria are young people which climate change realities threaten. He stressed that education is key to addressing these realities.

Mr Semiye urged the Ministries of Education and Environment to begin formal processes to intergrate climate education into the country’s school curriculum which should be followed through beyond the Convention of Parties COP26.

He said “Education globally has been identified as a catalyst for actionable result- oriented change and national development.

“Education is the first mechanism mentioned in Article 6 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Paris Aggrement), as one of the six areas that should be utilized to engage the public in climate solutions; The IPCC reports have also supported climate education as a climate response to strengthen societal responses to climate change.

“For us as Dean Initiative and World Largest Lesson since the first quarter of 2020, our global focus has been on a climate education and how Nigeria can make gains through its inclusion in the national school curriculum.

“The world is making gradual progress on climate education as few countries have already made climate education laws. We are so passionate about this because we believe that climate literacy can give people the tools to engage meaningfully with governments and corporations to help solve climate change” he added.

He however recommended that environmental and green clubs be allowed to function in schools, creation and availability of climate – based extracurricular activities to equip students with knowledge on nature, biodiversity, climate change and environmental stewardship be provided and the provision of environmental and climate based literature in schools.

Mr Semiye Michael further urged that 13th of October every year be adopted as the National Action Day for Climate Education and marked across schools in Nigeria with activities to promote environmental and climate learning.

Representative of sustyvibes, Glory Ade, said climate change is presently high globally considering the existence of increased level of green house gas emission than in the pre industrial era.

She pointed out that Africa is most vulnerable and worst hit by the impact of climate change and called for immediate action by relevant stakeholders to promote a sustainable environment for its citizens.